42 posts in this topic

I have a Dodge Caliber as my rental for a few days with 40k miles on it. It is an absolute pile... the best thing Dodge could have done is take it out back and shoot it. But that got me thinking, even just since the Caliber, the quality of vehicles has improved dramatically.

So sound off, what are the worst new cars in production and on sale today?

Other than the FRS, which is sort of really is a Suburu the whole Scion lineup sucks. IQ gets horrible reviews, ex bee and ex dee are dated, slow, and ugly. Not what Scion needs to gain youth market.

Maybach is gone, but was overpriced, poorly marketed, and just a rolling joke for what it was supposed to be.

VW reliability on anything other than the Wolfsburg, Germany built TDI and GTI golfs is a joke, and should be a national embarrassment for Germany.

Honda Civic is actually worse for the refresh, and I've heard lots of people, not just "car people" not happy with what Honda has done.

Hyundai Veloster has back seat headroom issues with the hatch that are just awkward and unacceptable for a production automobile.

BMW has become bland IMHO in their styling, and while this is just a personal thing, I'm going to put it here.

Lot of cars have become needlessly complex. Some cars are now using speakers to amplify/produce engine sounds for driver enjoyment...really....your going to use speakers rather than tuning the exhaust?

The whole Chinese car thing, with really crappy products that will possibly be sold here at some point...yuck.

Mazda dropping the ball with the whole smiley face thing on their product line....not acceptable IMHO. They need better design if they are going to survive in our uber competitive marketplace.

Acura needs the same kind of emergency rehash that the Civic is getting 18 months after it's intro. Styling still really is not a drawing card with these cars like ti should be IMHO.

Current Mustang and Camaro are wayyy to freaking heavy for what they are. Like I've said, we thought long and hard about both a Mustang and a Camaro before we bought the MINI. We'll be buying another car in the next couple of years, and I'm interested to see what Ford and Chevrolet are going to do with these two cars.

Have I peeved everyone off yet...probably and I am sorry. But these are my current frustrations/sore spots with the current production automobiles.

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Horse, I could not agree more on the whole weight thing. The problem is is that EVERY CAR these days is overweight by at least 500 pounds. Most Trucks could stand to drop 750-1000 pounds easily. Safety matters, but so does fuel economy. Compared to 25-30 years ago, every car seems too heavy nowadays. Somethng has to give.

The first automaker that can make a safe car and have it weigh 500 pounds less than the competition AND not be overpriced will have almost everyone beating a path to their door.

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Just about all the asian eco box cars are in this list to me. They are dull, plastic bad interiors which remind me of piss poor american cars of the 90's and just about any BMW or MB as they just cannot seem to stay out of the shop for repairs.

Do not get me wrong, I think the design language of BMW and MB is very nice, just their quality sucks. Chrysler has it's own issues with the 200, Sebring, Caliber, etc Even the mini van has gone down hill in my opinion.

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a complaint i hear a lot from customers is that the cars they are driving are too light for winter. cars like the altima, mazda3, etc.

you never really hear a GM owner complain that their car is too light.

I think ford has fixed the dual clutch problems on the focus for awhile now. I drove a new one that shifted great. I have an acquaintance who has one and he said a tranny flash took care of all the gremlins on his.

Although ain't it funny, the fusion is not dual clutch.

If i believe reviews, the new Versa sedan is the worst new car on the road.

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I'm also not a fan of hybrids. Again, it's just me being old school. But contrary to the self-righteous attitude of some people who drive 'em, those things don't save the world--streets still need to be paved for the car to be driven in, parking lots still need to be built, tons of plastic needs to be molded to fit the interiors, all kinds of nasty metals go into the battery pack--and in the grand scheme of things, they really don't "save fossil fuels" at all.

But at least they are more complex than a vehicle with a regular powertrain, and you have the added benefit of spending several thousand dollars more to purchase all that complexityin the first place.

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I'm also not a fan of hybrids. Again, it's just me being old school. But contrary to the self-righteous attitude of some people who drive 'em, those things don't save the world--streets still need to be paved for the car to be driven in, parking lots still need to be built, tons of plastic needs to be molded to fit the interiors, all kinds of nasty metals go into the battery pack--and in the grand scheme of things, they really don't "save fossil fuels" at all.

But at least they are more complex than a vehicle with a regular powertrain, and you have the added benefit of spending several thousand dollars more to purchase all that complexityin the first place.

Sorry I blew up.

Agreed, the heavy Green tree huggers seem to always ignore the fact that 10 years worth of green house gas was pushed into the world for the production of your battery pack and lets not forget all the increased gas created by the coal burning power plants to give you the electricity to charge your 40-80 mile limited car. At least I can go anywhere with my car, even CNG if better than Electric.

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The new Malibu seems to be far from the car it should have been. Vera of course. Smart car probably takes the award. It may be incredibly safe for such a small car, but it's terrible transmission and pathetic fuel economy for something so small puts it near the top of the list for worst cars I think.

I hated the Colorado but then I drove a brand new Ranger and mother of god that is a pile of garbage, especially with the 2.3. So in retrospect the Colorado at least has some guts and doesn't sound like the engine has marbles in it, has some actual legroom and has decent steering.